Ball hinges

ABSTRACT

A ball hinge device characterized by its economical construction in that a ball head screw is used in conjunction with a bracket which may be formed of sheet metal or of non-metallic resilient material which depends for its strength and support on the close fit between it and a slot machined into a supporting panel. A construction is taught in which the hinge may be attached to the supporting panel without the use of additional hardware.

Unlted States Patent 1 1 [111 3,714,678 Weisz et al. Feb. 6, 1973 1 BALLHINGES 1,265,445 5/1918 Hagen ..287/9() 75 Inventors: William Weisz,Rockaway; William g'iggjgg {1x328 Hem)", Caldwell both of 2,677,8535/1954 Ross ..l6/l7l x 3.056.475 10/1962 Benham ..49/3s1 x 73A' iThs c,NYk, 1 sslgnee N 3 Inger ompany cw or Primary Examiner-Francis K. ZugelAssistant ExaminerPeter A. Aschenbrenner [22] Filed: Aug. 23, 1971AltorneyMarshall J. Breen N ,7 0 65 57 ABSTRACT [52] U S Cl 16/128 R 16.287/21 A ball hinge device characterized by its economical 287/89construction in that a ball head screw is used in conlsl I Int Cl Eosd[/06 junction with a bracket which may be formed of sheet Field 88 metalor of non-metallic resilient material which de- 2817/89 pends for itsstrength and support on the close fit between it and a slot machinedinto a' supporting panel. A construction is taught in which the hingemay [56] References Cited be attached to the supporting panel withoutthe use of UNITED STATES PATENTS additional hardware- 2,242,02l 5/1941Ball ..287/89 3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEUFEB 6 I975 m B mWilliam Weisz, y William L. Herron my ATTORNEY WITNESS A A )v"! 1., .41

BALL HINGES SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to ballhinges for use in sewing machine cabinets or other wood furniture usingwood panels of thickness at least equivalent to that of the hinge ball.

Heretofore ball hinges have required the use of relatively large blocksto form the socket for the ball and to permit attachments to be made tothe supporting panel. Generally two or more pieces were required to makethe socket with additional pieces required to enable attachment to asupporting panel. This type of construction has made the ball hingerelatively expensive to use, difficult to install and somewhat bulky.

Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a ball hinge ofsimple and economical construction.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a ball hinge whichmay be easily assembled and installed into an article of furniture.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a ball hingewhich will obtain considerable strength and support from the supportingpanel in which it is installed.

This and other objects of the invention will become apparent from thefollowing description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded isometricshowing the individual elements of a hinge constructed in accordancewith this invention,

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the assembled hinge of FIG. I attached toa sewing machine and installed in a sewing machine cabinet,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the assembled hinge attached to thesewing machine as it is being installed in the sewing machine cabinet,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the assembled and in stalled hinge,showing the sewing machine in the stored position,

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross sectional view taken through the centerlineof the ball headed stud substantially along the line 5-5 of FIG. 4showing how the bracket is retained in the cabinet and indicating howthe ball is retained in the bracket,

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view similar to FIG. 5 of a modified form ofconstruction which closes off the slot in the table top,

FIG. 7 is a side view of the bracket of the hinge shown in FIG. 6showing a lead-in slot for the ball head of the ball headed screw.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Although a specific use of theinvention has been described and illustrated in the drawings, thisdescription and illustration is not intended to limit the scope of theinvention which is defined in the appended claims.

Referring to FIG. 1, it may be seen that the hinge is made up of aspherical or ball headed screw 1, forming one leaf of the hinge and ahinge bracket 2, forming the other leaf of the hinge. More apparent inFIGS. 4 and 5 the ball head 3 of the screw 1 has a slot 4 forscrewdriver control of the depth to which the screw 1 is inserted in asuitable tapped hole. The hinged bracket 2 is formed from sheet metalstock or from suitable nonmetallic resilient material with leaf springears 5 and retaining ears 6 located on opposing sides of partisphericalsockets 7 punched, coined, or molded into the bracket material. Theparti-spherical sockets 7 are placed opposite each other by the U-bend 8in the bracket material at a spacing sufficient to contain the ball 3 ofthe ball headed screw 1 which may be inserted into the bracket, afterforming, owing to the resiliency of the bracket material.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the ball headed screw is threaded into asuitably tapped hinge hole 9 in a sewing machine bed 10 with the hingebracket 2 previously assembled to the ball head 3. There are two suchhinge holes generally in the back of the sewing machine bed to supportthe sewing machine in a stored position in a sewing machine cabinet asshown in FIG. 4. The machine is most usually supported in a raisedposition by rotating the machine about the hinges until upright andpreventing its return by a retractable stop (not shown) acting on thefront of the sewing machine bed 10. To accommodate the hinge bracket 2 ahinge bracket slot 11 is cut into the top 12 of the sewing cabinet fromthe edge of the sewing machine accommodating opening 13. The width ofthe slot 11 is made sufficiently wide to constrain the hinge bracket 2about the ball 3 and thereby prevent the removal of the ball from thesocket 7 of the bracket. In this fashion the resilient bracket materialobtains considerable strength and support from the cabinet into which itis inserted. A depression 14 is cut into the top 12 of the sewing tablespaced from the U-shaped end of the slot 11 and is contoured to receivethe retaining ears 6 of the hinge bracket 2 thereby locating the bracketin the slot so that the outer surface of the hinge bracket is supportedby the cabinet. As can be seen in FIG. 5, the leaf spring ears 5 of thebracket pressing against the lower surface of the cabinet top 12 retainsthe retaining ears 6 securely in the depression 14 cut into the cabinettop 12 for that purpose.

The hinge bracket 2 is installed into the sewing machine table top byholding the sewing machine as shown in FIG. 3 slightly above the cabinetwith the hinge bracket 2 canted to the top 12 of the sewing machinecabinet. The application of force to the sewing machine will cause thehinge bracket 2 to snap into position into the sewing machine cabinet.After the hinges are in position on the cabinet, the clearance betweenthe sewing machine bed 10 and the sewing machine opening 13, in thecabinet may be adjusted by changing the depth to which the ball headedscrew 1 is threaded into the hinge hole 9.

The hinge bracket 2 may be removed from the sewing machine cabinet top12 by relieving the tension being applied by the leaf spring ears 5 onthe retaining ears 6 of the bracket. This may be achieved by exerting adiagonal pull upwards on the sewing machine to counter the force exertedby the leaf spring ears 5 of the bracket while also exerting a componentof force to remove the hinge bracket from the cabinet top 12.

A modified form of construction for the ball hinge is shown in FIGS. 6and 7. In this construction,a hinge bracket 16 is formed with a slotcover 17 designed to cover the slot cut for the hinge bracket into thetop of the sewing machine cabinet 12 and thereby to present a smoothcontinuous cabinet top. Attachment is made to the cabinet top by formingthe hinge bracket 16 with lower retaining ears 18 which are fastened tothe bottom surface of the cabinet top 12 by the retaining screws 19. Toobtain proper support from the retaining screws 19 the hinge bracket 16must be made of somewhat thicker material than was used in the hingebracket 2 previously described. If required, an easier access path forthe ball screw 1 to the socket 20 may be provided by a ball enteringslit 21 which will not appreciably interfere with the operation of theball hinge.

What is claimed is:

1. A hinge comprising in combination:

a. a ball having attachment means thereon providing one leaf of saidhinge;

b. a bracket formed from a resilient material, said bracket havingattachment means thereon and having portions opposite each othercontaining parti-spherical sockets for said ball, said bracket formingthe other leaf of said hinge, said ball being received in saidparti-spherical sockets; and

c. a supporting panel of a thickness substantially equivalent to thediameter of said ball, said panel having a slot in an edge thereof of awidth substantially equivalent to that of said opposite portions of saidbracket having said ball received in said partispherical socketsthereof, said slot embracing said bracket adjacent said parti-sphericalsockets in said opposite portions of said bracket and constraining saidball in said bracket, said attachment means of said bracket retainingsaid bracket in said supporting panel.

2. A hinge as recited in claim 1 in which said attachment means of saidbracket comprises a first and second pair of ears depending from saidopposite portions containing said parti-spherical sockets and, saidsupporting panel contains depressions in the surface adjacent said slot,shaped to receive said first pair of ears, said second pair of cars ofsaid bracket disposed on the opposite surface of said supporting panelwhereby said first pair of cars is held in said depression in saidsupporting panel by said second pair of cars pressing against saidopposite surface of said supporting panel.

3. A hinge as recited in claim 1 wherein said bracket is formed with atop section joining said opposite portions containing saidparti-spherical sockets, said top section spaced from said sockets toform a continuous surface on said supporting panel covering said slot.

1. A hinge comprising in combination: a. a ball having attachment meansthereon providing one leaf of said hinge; b. a bracket formed from aresilient material, said bracket having attachment means thereon andhaving portions opposite each other containing parti-spherical socketsfor said ball, said bracket forming the other leaf of said hinge, saidball being received in said parti-spherical sockets; and c. a supportingpanel of a thickness substantially equivalent to the diameter of saidball, said panel having a slot in an edge thereof of a widthsubstantially equivalent to that of said opposite portions of saidbracket having said ball received in said parti-spherical socketsthereof, said slot embracing said bracket adjacent said parti-sphericalsockets in said opposite portions of said bracket and constraining saidball in said bracket, said attachment means of said bracket retainingsaid bracket in said supporting panel.
 1. A hinge comprising incombination: a. a ball having attachment means thereon providing oneleaf of said hinge; b. a bracket formed from a resilient material, saidbracket having attachment means thereon and having portions oppositeeach other containing parti-spherical sockets for said ball, saidbracket forming the other leaf of said hinge, said ball being receivedin said parti-spherical sockets; and c. a supporting panel of athickness substantially equivalent to the diameter of said ball, saidpanel having a slot in an edge thereof of a width substantiallyequivalent to that of said opposite portions of said bracket having saidball received in said parti-spherical sockets thereof, said slotembracing said bracket adjacent said parti-spherical sockets in saidopposite portions of said bracket and constraining said ball in saidbracket, said attachment means of said bracket retaining said bracket insaid supporting panel.
 2. A hinge as recited in claim 1 in which saidattachment means of said bracket comprises a first and second pair ofears depending from said opposite portions containing saidparti-spherical sockets and, said supporting panel contains depressionsin the surface adjacent said slot, shaped to receive said first pair ofears, said second pair of ears of said bracket disposed on the oppositesurface of said supporting panel whereby said first pair of ears is heldin said depression in said supporting panel by said second pair of earspressing against said opposite surface of said supporting panel.